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    The Tide Watchers: A Novel
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    The Tide Watchers: A Novel
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    The Tide Watchers: A Novel
    Ebook587 pages9 hours

    The Tide Watchers: A Novel

    By Lisa Chaplin

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In the tradition of Jennifer Robson, comes this compelling debut that weaves the fascinating story of a young woman who must risk her life as a spy to help stop Napoleon’s invasion of Great Britain in the winter of 1803.

    Though the daughter of an English baronet, Lisbeth has defied convention by eloping to France with her new husband. But when he breaks her heart by abandoning her, she has nowhere to turn and must work in a local tavern. Her only hope for the future is to be reunited with her young son who is being raised by her mother-in law.

    A seasoned spy known by his operatives as Tidewatcher, Duncan apprenticed under Lisbeth’s father and pledged to watch over his mentor’s only daughter while he searches the Channel region for evidence that Bonaparte has built a fleet to invade Britain. But unpredictable Lisbeth challenges his lifelong habit of distance.

    Eccentric, brilliant American inventor Robert Fulton is working on David Bushnell’s “turtle”—the first fully submersible ship—when he creates brand-new torpedo technology, which he plans to sell to the French Navy. But when his relationship with Bonaparte sours, he accepts Tidewatcher’s help to relocate to the French side of the Channel, but he refuses to share his invention. With an entire army encamped in the region, blocking off all access, Tidewatcher must get that submersible, along with someone who knows how to use it, to uncover Bonaparte’s great secret.

    When Lisbeth is asked to pose as a housekeeper and charm Fulton so she can learn to use the submersible before the invasion fleet sails, she will be forced to sacrifice herself for her country—but is she willing to sacrifice her heart when she’s already lost it to another…?

    A fast-paced, deeply-researched, and richly imagined novel, The Tide Watchers explores a long-hidden, chapter of Bonaparte’s history.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 30, 2015
    ISBN9780062379146
    Unavailable
    The Tide Watchers: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Tide Watchers

    3.5/5

    17 ratings11 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Summary: Duncan is an experienced spy for the British, known to most of his associates only as Tidewatcher. Duncan's masters know that Napoleon's up to something along the channel coast, but no one's sure exactly what, and it's Duncan's job to find out. In his attempts to do so, he encounters Lisbeth, a young English noblewoman who ran off to France with a dashing husband who later turned cruel and manipulative, leaving her stranded but under his power, as he holds her infant son hostage to her good behavior. Lisbeth is perfectly placed for Duncan's needs - the American inventor Robert Fulton is working on a submersible craft that would allow Duncan to secretly scout out French naval movements and enter occupied cities, but Fulton doesn't much like the British, and is threatening to sell his plans to the French. But Lisbeth, working as Fulton's maid, could help persuade him, and thereby turn the tide for Britain, but how can Duncan ask her to risk entering the world of espionage when she's already been through so much?Review: I really, really wanted to like this book more than I actually did, which is frustrating, and more frustrating still is that I can't quite put my finger on what about it I didn't like. It's set in a time period that I find interesting: check. It's got a good story, with plenty of twists and turns: check. It's got an exciting plot with espionage, chases, narrow escapes, action, and adventure: check. It's well written, with a nice balance of detailed description and action and dialogue in very smooth and elegant prose: check. It's got multidimensional characters: check. So I should have been all over this book, right?The issue was that I just didn't really care about the characters (with an exception of Duncan's half brothers, who I quite liked and wished we got to spend more time with). It's not that they felt flat, exactly - they are interestingly layered - but I never got emotionally invested in their problems, which made the book more slow going than it should have been. Part of this is maybe because I could tell the general shape of the plot, from both reading other historical fiction, and from knowing actual history - of course Napoleon is not going manage to invade Britain, and it's a good bet that our heroes are going to be a part of thwarting his plans. But even on the fictional side, I had a hard time getting invested. Can Lisbeth learn to risk her heart again? Will Duncan deal with his issues about family and identity? Yes to both, but these and questions like them never drew me in with much urgency - and urgency is not something that you want to be lacking in your spy novels. 3 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: The story's well woven and well written but I didn't find it particularly compelling, although other readers that are drawn to this time period might connect with the characters and the story more than I was able to.
    • 4/5
      I received this book from the Early Reviewers giveaway. I enjoy historical fiction, so this book was a good one for me. I do not know a lot about the history aspects of this novel. It was a good learning experience for me, as well as an interesting read. I would like to know more about the characters in the novel and what happens to them.
    • 3/5
      I kinda struggled to get through this book, which was centered around espionage during the Napoleonic Wars. The characters were intriguing - I enjoyed Duncan as he developed and I sympathized with Lisbeth, although I did get tired of her being described as a lady. Still, I felt like the plot didn't all fit together quite neatly enough and the secondary characters lacked the definition they needed. Read this if you're a dedicated fan of Napoleonic-era historical fiction.
    • 4/5
      The Tide Watchers is part spy novel, part adventure novel, part history lesson and a little bit of romance. It takes place in England and France during Napoleon’s rise. Our hero is in France trying to learn what he can about the soon to be Emperor’s plans and to try and find his employer’s daughter, Lisbeth. She ran away with a French emigre against the wishes of her parents and he did not turn out to be the romantic man she thought he was so now she finds herself working at a tavern and branded a whore by all in the town.Duncan finds Lisbeth and realizes she could be a help on his mission but is a little reluctant to put her in danger. Lisbeth is not like any other woman he has ever met; she is intelligent, forthright and she speaks her mind. She agrees to work with Duncan and then she wants to go home.The story is a good one and the writing kept me very engaged. There is a lot of history to draw from in this time period and Ms. Chaplin weaves her fictional players in with historical characters very well. I will admit to feeling at times in the beginning like I dropped into the second book of a series but I soon figured out who everyone was. I believe the author was trying to slowly release information about her characters but it left me a bit confused at times. My biggest complaint and the reason for the 3.5 rating instead of a 4 is the ending. It was obscenely abrupt. In fact I wondered if my advance reading copy was missing a chapter it was that jarring an ending. I am guessing there will be a sequel – if not so much was left hanging it was really crazy. I understand leaving the readers anxious for another book but this was more than that – it truly felt like information was missing.
    • 4/5
      I received the Tide Watchers by Lisa Chaplin as a part of LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. I was very intrigued about with the description of the book. It takes place during the early 1800s at a time when peace between Britain and France is very tenuous. Lisbeth a young daughter of an English baronet risks her life as a spy to help stop Napoleon’s invasion of Great Britain with the hopes of rescuing her young son from the clutches of her abusive husband. I thought the story was very compelling and interesting. The book flows pretty well and the story is constantly moving. My history facts about this time period are a bit shaky but I thought that for the most part it seemed historically accurate. At times it was easy for me to forget that some of the characters were fictional. I thought the author did a good job blending the two. It seems that this book may lead to a sequel and I would probably be interested in reading that as well.
    • 3/5
      This one is tough to review. The whole premise of the story is very interesting. I usually like historical fiction. The characters were not one dimensional and you actually had to think about whether they were even good people and doing the right things or not. And I like when everything is not black and white. There is a lot of action and suspense. And a story about the first submarine is just cool. But I didn’t really like the book. I didn’t like the main characters as people and found them uninteresting as characters. I didn’t care what happened to them. And the plot, that should have been extremely compelling, was strangely not. Despite all the good components it was never hard to put down and I was never very eager to pick it back up. And the abrupt ending was less of an ending than a ‘tune in next week’ cliffhanger. To write this review I had to skim through the book again because soon after I finished reading it I had forgotten it completely.
    • 4/5
      I really wanted to rate it higher. I like the characters overall, I like the setting, I like the premise. It drug a little at the end when she was trying to get so much in. Feels like there will be another book to follow.
    • 4/5
      Suspenseful espionage novel set mainly in Napoleonic France, with a feisty, down-to-earth, clever heroine. Lisbeth Sunderland, daughter of a baronet, to escape a hated marriage, elopes with a charming Frenchman and returns to France. Subsequently she discovers the hateful persona hidden under his mask of elegance and suaveness. He takes their baby son and deserts her; she is reduced to working as a tavern maid. With promises to retrieve her son and to return them to England, she agrees to help Duncan, a "King's Man", or spy: codename Tidewatcher. Under his direction she infiltrates the house of Robert Fulton, eccentric American inventor of a type of submarine, as housekeeper and apprentice. Lisbeth and Duncan set out to foil plots of Napoleon's invasion of England and of the king's assassination. "Boney" has already survived a failed assassination, himself. There are several different subplots. The story really didn't pick up steam for me till about p. 147. Amid episodes and dialogue that displayed the author's genuine talent, there were long stretches of confusing action. For instance, I saw no point to the Lady Georgiana subplot. There were other instances I felt the novel could have been shortened and tightened up.I liked both hero and heroine, also Mark, the Cockney cabin boy. The story just ... ended. Perhaps the author has a sequel in the works? Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Should Lisbeth become a spy in order to save her child from a maniac?Lisbeth's husband abandons her and takes thier child, she is left alone and penniless in a foreign country to fend for herself. Afraid to stray too far from her newborn for fear it would be seen abandonment, she takes a job serving in a local tavern. It is there she encounters Gaston Borchonne, AKA Duncan (if that is really even his name) who promises to reunite her with her son. Gaston/Duncan seems to know a lot about her… his only request is that she become a spy, just like her father. England needs to gain the help of American inventor, Robert Fulton and his submersible ship before France gets it first. That is where Lisbeth comes in…I had a hard time following the start of the story; it seemed a bit choppy and jumped around a bit for me however it did finally settle down as I had a hard time putting it down. I began to get pulled into the story and again towards the end it lost me for a bit, then got me back and then abruptly ended! (and I mean abruptly) In the end it was also a rollercoaster of emotions about whether I liked the characters—some I grew to like, some I hated, some I liked only to find I was not supposed to… which I guess is a good thing?! It was also really hard to keep track of who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. I really disliked the ending which leaves me with a rather bad taste in my mouth and accounts for a lower rating than I would like to give. I understand that it was probably done with a sequel in mind but still—- not cool. And one whole storyline (Georgy)... I can only assume will come into play in the sequel because it was relatively useless. Would I recommend it—not sure… maybe once the sequel is out and it all comes together—hopefully?
    • 4/5
      Early 19th century espionage, historical fiction featuring battles of wits between France, Britain and a bright, albeit not so willing 19 year old woman who stands in the midst of posturing men and through cleverness may yet save the day. Of course there's a ruggedly handsome brooding ship's commander eager to catch her and save her from certain death. But our heroine proves fierce and capable. The story's twists, turns, clever contraptions and long list of well-known historic characters keeps the reader engaged and hanging on for dear life. It's an exciting tale and the fictional characters are so well melded in among the historical greats that it could almost be believable. But don't take my word for it. Wander for yourself into 1803 France yet trust no one...I am grateful to author Lisa Chaplin, Harper Collins Publishers and LibraryThing Early Reviewers for having provided a free copy of an uncorrected proof of this book. Their generosity did not, however, influence this review - the words of which are mine alone. Synopsis (from book's back cover):In the tradition of Jennifer Robson, comes this compelling debut that weaves the fascinating story of a young woman who must risk her life as a spy to help stop Napoleon’s invasion of Great Britain in the winter of 1803.Though the daughter of an English baronet, Lisbeth has defied convention by eloping to France with her new husband. But when he breaks her heart by abandoning her, she has nowhere to turn and must work in a local tavern. Her only hope for the future is to be reunited with her young son who is being raised by her mother-in law.A seasoned spy known by his operatives as Tidewatcher, Duncan apprenticed under Lisbeth’s father and pledged to watch over his mentor’s only daughter while he searches the Channel region for evidence that Bonaparte has built a fleet to invade Britain. But unpredictable Lisbeth challenges his lifelong habit of distance.Eccentric, brilliant American inventor Robert Fulton is working on David Bushnell’s “turtle”—the first fully submersible ship—when he creates brand-new torpedo technology, which he plans to sell to the French Navy. But when his relationship with Bonaparte sours, he accepts Tidewatcher’s help to relocate to the French side of the Channel, but he refuses to share his invention. With an entire army encamped in the region, blocking off all access, Tidewatcher must get that submersible, along with someone who knows how to use it, to uncover Bonaparte’s great secret.When Lisbeth is asked to pose as a housekeeper and charm Fulton so she can learn to use the submersible before the invasion fleet sails, she will be forced to sacrifice herself for her country—but is she willing to sacrifice her heart when she’s already lost it to another…?
    • 4/5
      The Tide Watchers is part spy novel, part adventure novel, part history lesson and a little bit of romance. It takes place in England and France during Napoleon’s rise. Our hero is in France trying to learn what he can about the soon to be Emperor’s plans and to try and find his employer’s daughter, Lisbeth. She ran away with a French emigre against the wishes of her parents and he did not turn out to be the romantic man she thought he was so now she finds herself working at a tavern and branded a whore by all in the town.Duncan finds Lisbeth and realizes she could be a help on his mission but is a little reluctant to put her in danger. Lisbeth is not like any other woman he has ever met; she is intelligent, forthright and she speaks her mind. She agrees to work with Duncan and then she wants to go home.The story is a good one and the writing kept me very engaged. There is a lot of history to draw from in this time period and Ms. Chaplin weaves her fictional players in with historical characters very well. I will admit to feeling at times in the beginning like I dropped into the second book of a series but I soon figured out who everyone was. I believe the author was trying to slowly release information about her characters but it left me a bit confused at times. My biggest complaint and the reason for the 3.5 rating instead of a 4 is the ending. It was obscenely abrupt. In fact I wondered if my advance reading copy was missing a chapter it was that jarring an ending. I am guessing there will be a sequel – if not so much was left hanging it was really crazy. I understand leaving the readers anxious for another book but this was more than that – it truly felt like information was missing.